Counters are utilized throughout integrated circuit designs to perform various counting functions. One type of integrated circuit device which uses counters is integrated memory circuits, such as dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), static random access memories (SRAMs), video random access memories (VRAMs), synchronous dynamic random access memories (SDRAMs), and synchronous graphic random access memories (SGRAMs). For example, SDRAMs and SGRAMs comprise multiple counters to perform various counting functions such as a burst counting function, a self-refresh counting function, and an auto refresh counting function.
As is known in the art of integrated circuit design, counters are typically implemented with a relatively large number of logic gates in the integrated circuit. The cells occupied by the counter logic gates can represent a significant portion of available die real estate of the integrated circuit. This is especially true in semi-conductor memory integrated circuits, where there is an ever present need to achieve higher memory cell population capacities in smaller die areas. Typical integrated memory circuits comprise millions of equivalent memory cells arranged in arrays of addressable rows and columns, along with support logic circuitry of which a significant portion represents circuitry to perform the required counting functions of the memory integrated circuit. Therefore, there is a need in integrated circuits and especially in semi-conductor memory integrated circuits to achieve the necessary counting functions with minimal logic gates.